I purchased a pair of Nelgan Mars Si coax minimonitors last week. They came Wednesday, and I resisted the temptation to listen early, so I hooked them up and let them burn in until Saturday.
My initial impressions: How on earth do these tiny speakers do what they do? Are they the best speakers available - perhaps not. But after three years on the minimonitor merry-go-round, these are blowing me away. I am particularly enamoured of the midrange. It is luscious and accurate at the same time. Voices float in space well in front of the speakers. But soundstage depth is killer too. Drums set well back on the stage are clearly recreated as such. Soundstage and imaging capability are among the best I have heard from any speaker. Bass is not slamming, but these are small, very efficient minimonitors. I have had multiple discussions with Neil at Nelgan, and he assures me that with a subwoofer these will beat 5-10k full range floorstanders in many areas, except the ability to reach headbanging levels. In my 15X20 room I don't feel shortchanged on SPLs, but I'm not trying to recreate rock concert levels. I will probably order the Nelgan Luna subwoofer coming out next month. I was assured that it will be quick enough to keep up with the Mars.
Oh, treble response! Fast, really fast. Not ribbon fast, but it would seem that the tweeter in these things is fairly light and well controlled. Smooth, but not so much so that you won't recognize a bad recording for what it is. All in all these speakers are quick, with just the slightest touch of warmth in the midrange. My Sonic Frontiers Power 1 has no trouble driving them to high playback levels, and seems to be a synergistic match. I had serious hesitation about trying these things, mainly because I haven't cared for other speakers using this driver design (Kef, Tannoy). But after over an hour on the phone with Neil talking about my equipment and taste in music, I took the plunge. Seriously happy I did. My last pair of speaks were the baby B&W Nautilus, which never quite pleased me in some indefinable way. Don't miss them one bit, this was a great purchase. Highly recommended!
